Windrowing agricultural cuttings is a well-known practice. As harvesting equipment capacities continue to increase, it is a substantial underutilization of the harvest equipment to gather a plurality of single windrows. Therefore, the merging of two, three or more windrows must occur for proper utilization of the equipment.
Windrow merger devices can be used and incorporated into various agricultural equipment, including, but not limited to, forage mowers, mower conditioners and windrowers. The windrow merger devices are positioned to move the crop after other operations such as mowing, conditioning, raking, etc. have been performed on the crop. These merger devices can move the crop to either side of the agricultural equipment.
An example of a windrow merger device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,163. As is shown and described in the patent, the windrow merger device is a conveyor belt which can be disposed at a 45 degree angle to the horizontal so as to be in the path of the cut crop discharged by the conditioner, the conveyor having a lateral extent such as to deposit the crop in a windrow located outside a selected one of the front pair of support wheels. Numerous other types of agricultural equipment that have conveyor belts to move or merge the crops to form windrows are known in the industry, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,205,757 and 7,310,929.
While these belt or apron types of windrow mergers are commonly used in the industry, problems with these devices exist. Because of the continuous nature and length of the belts in conjunction with the amount and weight of the material moved by the belts, the belts may develop slack over time. Slack allows the belt to become slightly misaligned, causing the belt to improperly wear and causing the accelerated repair and replacement of the drives and motors required for operation of the belt. In addition, because of the open design of the conveyor belt, debris from the crops can collect under the belt, also adding to the maintenance of the equipment. It would therefore be beneficial to have a window merger that would be more robust and simpler to maintain.